The future for U-verse TV

There's never been talk of shutdown AFAIK.  Will it happen?  I'm sure it will. 

There is no reason to enhance the product I can think of, so that's out of the question.  

The typical discussion around this usually revolves around cost and the channel selection.  A few active posters here are still subscribers. I don't see a reason to change yet.  

@gr8sho  You said:

"There is no reason to enhance the product I can think of, so that's out of the question. "

But why? There is a reason to upgrade the U-verse service. A really good one: the existing subscribers. If ATT/Directv doesn't think existing subscribers are a good reason, well, that says a lot for the company. 

Another reason is that streaming services are getting more expensive by the month.  Soon, their monthly bills will equal traditional cable, which would be an opening for cable, including U-verse to make a comeback.  Again, if ATT/Directv doesn't have the vision and foresight to see this, it says a lot about them.

The same price pressures that are sending up the streaming services will also continue to cause increases prices for U-verse TV.

Don't get me wrong, I'm holding on to U-verse TV as long as I can.  I've gotten the hard sell for DirecTV stream from AT&T 3 times in the past week and I keep telling them "no."

What we know:

1) U-Verse is not being sold to new customers. This has been the case since early 2020.

2) Customers are allowed to keep U-Verse. If they switch away, they cannot come back. I believe a customer can move and U-Verse can move with them, provided U-Verse is available at their new address. 

What we can assume:

1) As current U-Verse customers leave U-Verse, there may come a time when it is no longer economically feasible to keep pumping funds into the service.

2) When this point comes, they may issue a date of final termination. But this is just a guess.

AT&T wants out of the TV business.  I get it.  Like others have stated, I'm a diehard Uverse fan but AT&T WANTS OUT OF THE TV BUSINESS.

The logical assumption is that wireless and to a lesser degree, internet is more profitable and let's be real, it's all about the bottom line.

It's adorable that one would think that a company would continue to pour money into a service that's not profitable to keep the customers happy but that's not how it works.

Uverse is a retired product. Its future is that it will cease to exist.

@UverseWatcher 

The biggest reason IMO is Att only has a 20 state footprint to deliver service in and they must have felt there wasn’t a good enough business case to continue in it.  Directv won’t build on a product that’s bound to only one ISP.  

I do like the technology but it is finicky.  

FWIW, speaking of DirecTV, they've also launched their last satellite...unless something changes within this new company.

https://www.analysysmason.com/consulting-redirect/articles/att-last-satellite/

That's the dilemma for us customers. If we want to try a different provider and we don't like it, we can't come back to U-verse.  On the other hand, since Directv has no interest in improving or upgrading the U-verse service, it's going to die a slow death, so long term is it worth staying with U-verse, especially if they are going to continue to raise monthly bills?

Since us existing customer are quickly becoming an elite group, you would think Directv would cut our monthly bills instead of raising them.

So, where I am, I have the choice of U-verse, Comcast, and Wow, in addition to satellite and streaming services. Comcast is out of the question for me, because I love TCM, and Comcast moved it to a high priced sports tier.  Plus they are still mostly standard def compared to U-verse.  Wow has more of the channels I want, albeit more standard def than U-verse, but they are kind of in the same boat as U-verse, where Wow is slowly and half-heartedly phasing out its cable TV service.  Streaming just doesn't have enough channels for me.  Out of the satellites, I would be willing to give Dish a try, but I don't think you can bundle phone and internet with Dish.  (Dish for TV and bundle phone and internet with Wow, ATT, or Comcast?  But will it end up being more expensive than bundling all 3 with one provider?) So at the moment, I guess just sticking with U-verse is the best option.

I just have no idea how long that option will be feasible.

And then there is the rumored endgame of Dish absorbing Directv and Sling absorbing Directv Stream. So, in that scenario, where does that leave U-verse?  I wonder if the idea of selling the U-verse service to another provider like Charter Spectrum or Verizon FIOS TV is an option?  They could use that to expand their coverage area nationwide.

U-verse TV is a different beast.  It is highly dependent on AT&T's network for distribution, the channel content never transits the Internet and AT&T Network gear handles content subscription requests.  The Gateway device manages aspects of the in-home network as well.  All of these mean it's extremely difficult for anyone other than AT&T to actually manage this beast; AT&T cannot completely divest itself of U-verse TV without also divesting itself of the last-mile distribution network that U-verse TV relies on.  This is why, while DIRECTV "owns" the business, AT&T still manages and supports it.

Yes, they could transition U-verse TV to a Unicast-over-Internet network, just like DIRECTV stream, but at that point it becomes just another version of DIRECTV stream (or YTTV, etc.).  It loses what makes U-verse TV reliable.

Yes, they could sell the business to Spectrum, who would just convert them to CATV as fast as they possibly could.  Ditto for Verizon FIOS.  Or they could continue transition it to DIRECTV stream as they are already doing today.

U-verse IPTV in its current form will, unfortunately, not last much longer.  Unless IPv6 multicasting over Internet becomes a thing in a hurry, there will be no comparable replacement.  I am constantly watching to see what pieces of this and that I can get from here and there as well as having the ability to record broadcast TV for when the shoe drops.

If you want to try another provider, many providers (streaming and otherwise) offer short trial periods.

You can always sign up for Hulu or whatever for seven days and then cancel. Then do the same with another provider. If you have multiple people in the house, you can have each person sign up for the same provider using their own email addresses, but at different times.

You can also call AT&T and ask for a promotion. Use your phone's calendar to remind you when that promotion ends. If it's anything notable, you may be able to pay for a streaming provider at the same time as U-Verse and not end up paying much more.

Another reason why they can't sell to a major cable operator is because cities have contracts with those companies. If AT&T sells to Comcast for a place where Spectrum is...it's possible bad news.

Yes, we do the promotion request for U-verse every year.  I wonder, though, for this year coming up, do we contact ATT or Directv?

Call the same number you've been calling.

I had to make my annual call to AT&T a week ago.  I've been with AT&T for over 20 years and U-verse since it came out.  I was told that they are not offering the usual promotions for U-verse customers because they are moving everyone over to Direct Streaming.  It was a real hard sell.  I prevailed - told them get me a manager that could give me the U-verse with promotions or completely close all of my AT&T accounts immediately (TV, Internet, Home Phone, and 3 wireless lines). I was able to keep the U-verse, Internet (they actually increased me from 300Mbps to 500 Mbps) and Home Phone for $8 less than I was paying for the last 12 months with no contract.  For now, I still have UVerse but am not counting on it being available much longer.

U-verse TV has been "going away" since just a few months after AT&T's acquisition of DIRECTV.  Yes, its days are numbered, and it's anyone's guess how many days we have left.  However, if you like it, keep it.  The more people give it up voluntarily, the sooner the end will likely come.